Species details
White knight
Tricholoma album
Inedible
Photo: Jerzy Opioła · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo source · License
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Description
A white to cream Tricholoma with a strong unpleasant or radish-like smell.
Identification features
Gills are white, the stem lacks a ring, and taste is distinctly unpleasant to acrid.
Identification checklist
Check the entire fruitbody for identification. A white to cream Tricholoma with a strong unpleasant or radish-like smell. Gills are white, the stem lacks a ring, and taste is distinctly unpleasant to acrid. Typical habitat: Deciduous woodland, especially with oak and beech.
Detailed features
- Cap
- 5–12 cm, initially rounded to convex, later cushion-shaped and shallowly depressed, white, often ochre at the centre; greasy when wet.
- Hymenophore
- Gills white, broad, relatively distant and notched at the stem.
- Stem
- 5–7 × 1.5–2.5 cm, white, stout and solid, somewhat thickened at the base.
- Flesh
- White to yellowish white, firm and thick.
- Smell
- Faintly of rancid flour.
- Spore print
- White.
Size
- Cap diameter
- 5–12 cm
- Stem height
- 5–7 cm
- Stem diameter
- 1,5–2,5 cm
Habitat
Deciduous woodland, especially with oak and beech.
Fruiting period
August, September, October, November
Ecology
- Trophic mode
- Mycorrhizal
- Host trees
- Birch (Betula)
- Substrate
- Grassland, Forest soil
- Notes
- It most often grows with birch on grassy sites and woodland edges.
How to separate similar species
Compare especially with these similar species: Tricholoma columbetta, Tricholoma saponaceum. Check the combination of cap shape and colour, spore-bearing surface, stem, flesh changes and habitat. A single feature or photograph is not enough; if the key characters do not match the description, do not treat the identification as confirmed.
Similar species
- Blue spot knight (Tricholoma columbetta)
Dove-coloured knight is usually more silky-shining and lacks the unpleasant smell and bitterness.
- Soapy knight (Tricholoma saponaceum)
White forms of soap knight can look similar, but the characteristic soap smell is an important clue.
Interesting facts
Did you know? The species was formerly often called the birch knight because of its strong association with birch.